DJ Irie
Appearances
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Let's get it, man. Let's get to the money. DJ Irie, listen, thank you so much for such a kind intro. I appreciate that, man. And listen, when family calls, family shows up, right? So we're here. Listen, I'm a kid that just loved music, right? And music has taken me on such an incredible journey. I started out collecting records. I had an opportunity to DJ an event.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
This is like literally like my senior year of high school, right? Ended up working out because everybody was drunk, right? And it ended up being the general manager of Planet Hollywood that I did the event for. And he was really impressed by what I was doing. Ended up giving me an opportunity at Planet Hollywood. This is when Planet Hollywood was like the wildest thing ever. The Vegas casino?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
No, no, no, in Miami. Oh, the restaurant. The restaurant. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was one of my first opportunities. And then from there, I went to the skating rink. And the next thing you know, I'm on the radio. Yep. I get a call from the Miami Heat. Hey, we need to talk. Right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And in 1999, 2000, I was the first official DJ, not just of the Miami Heat, but any professional sports franchise. No way. You know that? It didn't exist before that. This is the 1999, 2000 season when this happened. They had just moved from the Miami Arena to the American Airlines Arena. And the marketing team was like, hey, let's do something really cool and different.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And they came up with the idea of having an official DJ. And, you know, start asking around town and ended up, hey, I think Irie's the guy that we should start this with. And the funny thing about it was when Keep It Real goes wrong, well, all this went wrong. I said no at first.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Yeah, I'm an idiot. Hello, Miami Heat, man. This guy needs to be committed, right? Yeah, I thought, I didn't think it was really on brand for me at the time, right? Because understanding who their season ticket holders were, which is really what they focus on. I was like, these aren't the folks that are listening to my radio show. They're not the folks that are coming to my nightclub events. And
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Then I woke up and said, hey, this is an incredible opportunity.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Yeah. I was like, there's something here. And thank God I did. Three championship rings later. Wow. And just the most incredible experience of my life. So that worked out really well. And then here we are today. I started the Ivy Foundation. um, started Irie Weekend, um, which is on its 19th year. 19th year. 19th year. Sorry, I said 10 to 15 years. 19 years. 19 years.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That is, that is definitely, uh, something, you know, um, 19th year of Irie Weekend, um, uh, artist related, um, which is our, uh, events and talent acquisition, uh, firm. And, um, and yeah, and of course Irie Music Corp, which, you know, handles my appearances and, you know, traveling, uh, All over the world. All over the planet. And yeah, and we're here.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
This is the most important place to be is right here, right now.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It's a lot different now. Well, first of all, I don't put too much time and energy and focus into just regular nightclub nights anymore. The focus is really a lot more on private events and corporate. The cool thing with that is clubs are great. Don't get me wrong. That's where I started. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for all the support I got from nightclubs.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But from where I am now in my career and in my life, it's more than just going out and playing some songs, right? You know, the relationships and what we're looking to create, you know, opportunity and business-wise is a lot bigger, right, than just an event. And that magic happens in the private events world and in the corporate events world, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
So that's the first thing is the nature of the event, right? You know, second thing is, because I don't ever want to just show up, play some music and leave, you know? Great, even for a good amount of money, that's cool, because money's important, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But that same amount of time, I'd rather put that into something where I can create a relationship that can create a much bigger opportunity, right? Whether it be on the event side, whether it be on the talent side, whether it be on brand side, there's always... another opportunity to come out of an event.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
If you look at it as a platform and springboard rather than just, you know, hey, I'm going to go and play a couple songs, get a check and leave.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Sure. Yeah.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I'll tell you exactly how and I'll give you an example because there's really, listen, when it comes to the motivation behind doing this, a lot of you have different motivations, right? But there's only one motivation that you will literally excel, right? And be embraced, because people understand authenticity, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I think the best example I could probably give you, and it's very near and dear to me because I taught him how to DJ, is Shaq. I can't tell you, listen, I don't have enough fingers on two of my hands to tell you how many celebrities I've personally had conversations with that they wanna become DJs. Really? Yeah, yeah, man, man.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But I wanna focus on Shaq for a minute because Shaq, when he first came to Miami, This was 2004 or five, right? Shaq comes to Miami. We had known each other before, right? Just, you know, being around the scene. But he called me and he's like, hey man, come by the house. He just bought his house in Starling. Come by the house, I wanna build out a studio, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I thought he just wanted, you know, cause he was always rapping, right? So he's like, cool, I'll come help you out. So I go over there and he's like, no, no, no. Like a DJ studio, I wanna learn how to DJ. I was like, what? He goes, yo, I really, really love it. I wanna learn how to DJ. I said, all right, cool. So we put the equipment in, and you know what?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
He would go out and do an away game, get back to Miami at two o'clock in the morning. He's calling me up, hey man, meet me at the house. And he's ready, he's putting the time in, he's putting the time in, putting the time in, putting it in, putting it in. He didn't want to fake the funk. He didn't want to just have the look. He wanted to truly, truly understand it.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And the dude put in countless, countless, countless hours. And it shows because you see where he's at today. And that's when he told me, he says, hey, man, I want to play what I want to play, right? And I want to travel the world. I want to tour. I want to really, really, really do this. And if you don't have that level of passion for it, it doesn't matter what your name is.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Yeah, you might get a gig here or there, but you're never going to truly excel. Shaq has excelled at it. DJ Diesel is a thing. For sure. DJ Diesel is a hard ticket act. For sure. That's not easy. It's not easy, right? It's not easy moving thousands of tickets, you know, especially as a DJ, and he's doing it. And he's not doing it because of, you know, his past, you know, doing dunks, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Or NBA championships. They do it because they love what he's playing, right? And how he's playing it. And he's developed that, you know, he's honed that over years, right? So if you don't have that approach, honestly, you can forget about excelling.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
It's very simple. When you're out doing that date for free, and you also have a call to do something else, and you're getting five bucks for it, now you know you're onto something, right? Because it's your time, right? It's your time, and you have to put a value on your time, right? So you're right. All those dates we did for free, that wasn't for free. That was you investing in yourself, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That was an investment. Investments, when done correctly, guess what? Yield a return, right? So now you start getting that call. Hey, I want you for this date. Oh, you know what? I have some on there. Well, shoot, will you consider my offer? I want to pay you $2,000. Yep. there was your return. Maybe I'll do this instead, right? And that's what it is.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
You get out there, you get your name out there, you get people to start hearing your style, you get people to get a taste of what you can do and start creating that demand, right? And creating that demand will yield that return.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Honestly, you know why? Because it's not easy, right? It's not easy, and it's necessary. The thought process behind doing it in the first place was – I was getting calls constantly, Dan Marino, hey man, we're having something for the kids, would love for you to come out, they'd love to see you, if you can be a part of it. Absolutely, let's do it, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Udonis Haslam, hey man, we have something going on, let's do it. Alonzo, hey, let's do it. Shaq would call, right? All these amazing, you know, Dwayne, you know, and I would always try to be there. You know, the Special Olympics, you know, big brothers, big sisters, make a wish, we're all, hey, we're having something. As long as it was physically possible for me to be there,
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I felt it incumbent upon myself to do it as my form of giving back. And moving around and seeing what's going on in my community, I started noticing areas where like, well, I don't think this is getting enough attention, right? I don't think this area is getting any kind of visibility, right? And I think this is important.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And I was like, well, I'm not one to be like, well, hey, someone should do something. Right. I'll do it. Right. And how do I gather the resources to start focusing on things that I believe are important in society? And that is OK, well, shoot, maybe I should. make some calls and see if they'll come and support me. Right.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And the most amazing thing about it was when I figured out what I wanted to do, I started making some calls and it was absolutely Of course, I'll be there. What else can I do? And it was just overwhelming. And that's how we got it off the ground. And year after year to see, to me success is how many kids can we help? How many scholarships can we send out? How many kids can we get cars?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
How many things can we do to support them to be successful in their endeavors and get them out of their situation? And as long as we can do that and convert these lives and put them on a path to success, this hard work is worth doing. And we're going to continue doing it.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
I'm thrilled with that, man.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
You know what? It's a great question, right? And it's funny. I was talking to... A friend of mine, just the other day, I won't say who he is, but he's worth about six billion, right? And he's a really, really good friend of mine. And we go on vacations together. He lends me his yacht. It's unreal, you know? And I'm like, you know what's funny? He called me. This was like two days ago.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
He was telling me about a situation. He wanted to get my advice on something. He was talking about a situation of someone who I know as well, and he kind of gave me the rundown. And I was like, damn. This is kind of a messed up situation because it was a really close friendship that kind of went over money. And I was like, wow. Never once... Listen, I've been... Dan, listen, man, I'm blessed.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Super, super, super, super blessed, right? But dude, I've had tough times, right? And I'm sure a lot of people out there have had tough times, right? You know what else is funny? In my tough times, and don't get me wrong, if I was in a situation where I couldn't put food in my family's mouths, I would do whatever I had to do to do that, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But I've never been in a situation where I didn't have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from, right? But it would have been really, really, really tough
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
convenient for me to pick up the phone and call my billionaire friend and say hey man i need x amount you know can you help me right and honestly you know what they probably would they probably would but you know what i still wouldn't right i still i still and this this is me talking for me sure right one thing i never want you know one of my wealthy you know friends you know to think is that
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
He's around because he needs something, right? And I know if I really, really needed it, I could. But it opened my eyes, hearing that situation, right? It's like, they're people, right? Whether they be famous or, but they're still people, right? And they wanna be valued as a person, first and foremost, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And you know what, if I didn't mention, oh, hey, man, I'm going through a tough time, whatever, they'd be the first ones to be like, hey, Got you. What you need. You know what I mean? I got you. But for me, it's more important that we're buds. Right? We're buds. I got you. We can talk about anything. We hang. We have fun. You know? One thing I'm never going to be is your dependent. Right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Never going to be. Maybe some other people around you might need that. But me, I work for mine. I figure it out. And they respect that. You know what I mean? They respect that. They respect that. And even for me and other people that I see around me, and I know certain things, I respect that. And if you stand for that, that's something that will carry you a long ways in that kind of circle.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Don't ever be in that circle as someone that looks at, okay, what can I get? They got it, so I can ask for it. Don't ever, ever, ever be that way, ever.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Wow. Wow.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
He wants life. And he wants experiences. And guess what? That's what you can bring to the table. A lot of times people don't realize, you know, you have to understand how different people fit into your life. Right? And what is of value to them. Experiences are what they're valued. Absolutely.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I bet you that's made, that has enriched his life more than money ever could.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Listen, some of these folks, they don't even know what that is. It's just they automatically, whoever they're with, expects them to handle it. You know what I mean?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Like, wait, what? But that's the person I want to be, right? When it comes to being in those circles. And I think that's why... I've become, you know, I mean, I know we become family and stuff, but you, they look at you differently, you know? And, and, and, and here's the thing about it too, that is like, you know, for me, I love music.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Music is my business, but I, I, I'm a businessman, you know, I, I operate a number of companies. Right. And. But first and foremost, I'm a DJ. And I'm a DJ that has entered this world of music, right? And I've created other opportunities. But here's the thing about it. When I go in these circles, A lot of times people look at me and be, oh, that's the DJ, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
That's the talent, that's the entertainment. And that's all they'll see, right? And I know, I have bigger aspirations in terms of what I want to talk about, right? And the opportunities I want to explore, right? How do you change that perception? How do you change that conversation? Right. And it is a it's a process. Right.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And one thing I'm most proud of is that, you know, a lot of these folks are talking about that, you know, gone on to be incredibly successful and multibillionaires. You know, I may have met them because I was hired to perform an event. But a year, two year, three years later. We're business partners.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
right for sure we're business partners i've been given an opportunity to invest in a project that they're doing they may have gotten involved in something that i'm doing but i've over time been able to change that perception and change that conversation right and that is so important and that's that's for me but there's other people out there that are in different fields that maybe get into you know introduced into a situation
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
being viewed as one thing does not mean you have to stay in that position, right? Use your knowledge, your intellect, and, you know, put it out there, your aspirations. And, you know, people will be receptive to that. And next thing you know, you're in different rooms having different conversations than you ever even dreamt about.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
You've got Tucker Madera all over the place.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Yep, yep. So here's the thing, Matt. It's one thing to just have a great concept. It's another thing to really understand your market, right? And understand what drives your market. And at the end of the day, not only do you understand the makeup of your market, but you have to, have to, have to, have to be dialed into people. Because it really comes down to people, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
And if you really look at these different operators that have really gotten a super great hold on their respective cities, right? If you dissect what's going on, not only you'll find great concepts, right? You'll find great customer service, whatever, but you will find people
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
that have been a part of these organizations that, you know what, if you strip away everything else and put them on their own, they'll be doing their thing. You understand what I'm saying? So if you really look at it, you have all of these kind of micro-leaders that are incredible in their own right, but now they're part of this bigger operation.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
But you put it all together and it works. Right. And it works, right? And you might have, you know, somebody go off and either go to another market or go out and somebody else is ready to come up, right? Because you take a, let's look at Miami, right? Yep. There's a young promoter out there right now making a name for himself, right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
There's a young operator out there making a name for himself, you know? Matter of fact, you know what? There's a guy, I'll call him out, a guy named Chris Cuomo, right? I met Chris. He was working with a guy named Chef B at Nayara. Chris was an incredible restaurant operator. I mean, incredible. The guy just gets it, right? Gutman tapped him. and said, hey, man, I need you over here.
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Time to come to the big leagues. Right? And you know what? And he's been a superstar. Sure. A superstar. You see Dave, one day he pulled over and said, hey, man, what's Chris meant to the business? Right? And he'll tell you he's been a huge part of the business. Right? So understanding when it comes to leadership, one thing great about Dave, he understands talent. For sure. Right?
The Money Mondays
How Celebs Lose Millions by Saying “No” | Ryan Schinman & DJ Irie 🥂 EP117
Nurtures that talent and puts him in a position to win. Yep. That's the key. And in my opinion, and of course, having great concepts, that's super important. But you identify that superstar talent, and you put them in a position to win, give them the resources to win, you'll be around 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. 100%.